27 September, 2026

P618b Middling Stature Despite the Grand Vista

 


This next mix moves from the peaceful calm of the previous and bridges the gap towards the darker end to this series. I’ll skip around more in my write ups as not to repeat myself. I find that I do like most artists on Kranky, and have enjoyed researching each new name I came across on some early compilations they released. Loscil being one of them that grabbed my attention, as each album is written under a theme, and the music is very evocative of that intent. Microstoria being the group composed of Markus Popp (Oval) and Jan St Werner (Mouse on Mars), is actually more than the sum of its parts. What you expect but then much more, especially on this remix album. Philip Jeck’s turntablist work is surprising to me as I always associated that term with Q-Bert, Shadow, Kid Koala, etc. His approach is much more nuanced and has a different type of control. Andrew Liles using the longest named place in the English-speaking world for a track title, and I think this is more of his wry humor he throws into the monsoon of releases he has put out. Each one of those goes in unexpected directions and can be rewarding and difficult at the same time.

Robert Haigh has gone all over the map with his projects, from Truth Club, Fote, Sema, Omni Trio, and his solo works. I’m glad he’s back to some ambient and piano works as I think that shows his raw talent the most. Another Kranky shout out to Labradford, I’m so glad I bought “Prazision” in the early 90s on a whim, I’ve loved every release since then. I was introduced or had my attention focused on the guitar playing of Andreas Martin through the Brainwashed Eye video, where his style and humble nature let the music really shine. Here with his brother Christoph Heemann they make some wonderfully beautiful music, that isn’t too far off from HNAS later years’ sound which they both were involved in. Old Saw is one I captured for my Ambient Americana mixes, and they do fit well here as a bridge into Asunta’s clarinet and harmonium and Rapoon using similar instruments to a darker vibe ending this mix on an unsettled and uneasy place.


01 Christina Vantzou – CV
02 Loscil – Endless Falls
03 Microstoria – C-Schulz & Hajsch / Microstoria Remix
04 Richard Skelton – For Either Deadened or Undeadened
05 William Basinski – dlp 4.2
06 Lawrence English & Stephen Vitiello – with Chris
07 Philip Jeck – Wipe
08 Andrew Liles - Taumatawhakatangitangihangakoauautamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahullanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch - Part 3
09 Stars of the Lid – F*cked Up (3:57am)
10 Grouper – A-D (excerpt)(from ’10’, Room-40)
11 Tony Wakeford et L’Orchestre Noir – The Widow II
12 Robert Haigh – Berlin Kino
13 Harold Budd & Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois – Late October
14 Tim Hecker – Black Refraction
15 Andrew Liles – Soft Focus
16 Labradford – P
17 Andreas Martin & Christoph Heemann – Untitled
18 Old Saw – Lacustrina
19 Asunta – Landscape VI / Krajobraz VI
20 Rapoon – Last Twilight


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